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Monday, May 27, 2013

Here’s where I’m going to talk about my feelings.
Mostly my feelings about moving, don’t be too worried!
I’m going to put it right out there:Moving sucks.
We’re at a standstill with our lives here at this house. We know the end is near, our work here is done. Normally at this time of year I’m busy planting in the yard, scouring the neighborhood plant sales for new varieties and planting vegetable seeds in the garden. This year I’ve only planted a couple pots because…you can’t dig up the whole garden and take it with you.
But it’s not just that.My heart is in this home.
Maybe it shouldn’t be. Maybe it means I’m too attached to things I shouldn’t be attached to. But I get all emotional thinking of the day we’ll drive away and the house will not be ours anymore. I brought my past two babies home to this house. I know my way around it in the dark. We’ve sweated, cried (well, that’s probably just me), and even bled (mostly my husband) in making this house our own. I’m pretty invested.
I realize I’m not being forced to leave this house. We’ve been hoping for the past few years that we could do just what we are doing…selling our home and finding something with a few acres where we can really put down roots and live for the foreseeable future. I’m excited for that future. I’m excited to find our next house, to make it our own, to see all the memories we will make there.
But, it’s still tough! Change is tough!
I know once we actually find another house I’ll feel better about it. (We haven’t found a new house yet…eeek!) I think then I’ll be able to start planning our future there more concretely. Right now it feels like we’re at a dead end instead of at a new beginning.
I am glad that I have a house that I can feel that way about. I wish everyone could have a home they feel this strongly about. I’m hopeful that soon our “new” house will come on the market and we can buy it and I can start investing in that home and that one day it will feel homey like this home too.
It’s a bittersweet time. One that will pass and things will look much brighter!!
(I hope I’m not coming off as some sort of first-world complainer—I realize there are those who are homeless, or live in homes they don’t like or are not ideal. I know there are many many worse housing situations than the one we are currently experiencing!)Update: we accepted an offer on our current home a couple weeks ago and we are in the inspection process. Everything looks promising that we will close the end of next month. So far we have not put offers on any houses so hopefully soon one will come up that is what we are looking for!

Thursday, May 23, 2013

My husband really likes the term scrounging. He will call me and tell me that he scrounged a candy bar or the like (unopened—I hope, ha!) at work. It basically means he found it somewhere or got it for free and he rescued it.
I’m ambivalent about the term, but this week when I was out garage saling I scrounged a few things…meaning I got them for free…that I’m excited about!
First off, this:
Not sure what exactly it was used for in it’s former life (it doesn’t seem to have ever held gasoline or anything like that in it)…but I’m thinking about using it as a pretty watering can, or even a flower pot! Or maybe I’ll clean it up and use it in the house somehow. We’ll see!
And this:
I realize this probably doesn’t look like much. In fact, you might be wondering what rocker I’m off of.
They’re canna lily bulbs! One garage sale had a whole bunch of them for free, and they were really nice looking ones so I grabbed a bunch. Despite the fact that we are moving and why on earth am I planting flowers that I will not see bloom? Idon’tknoweither. :)
(My sister said that she will adopt them! Yay!)
I also got a red belt out of a freebie box. No, I have no picture, but it was just a basic belt, red, and I have been looking for a red belt for a while. That’s all.
Now for things that I actually paid a small pittance for:
Milk glass candy jar (?), 50 cents.
Little pink glass pitcher. 50 cents too if I remember correctly.
And I found more pale green glassware! Someday I will actually research to see what this type of glassware is properly called. I’m calling it my grandma’s green glassware for now. :)
And now for my favorite thing:
Ta-da!!!! A vintage polaroid camera--$5. I can picture it in my future studio/craft room/office, on a shelf. It has a really neat, almost sculptural, element to it. Love it!!
I’m really excited about this garage sale season!
And no, I do not plan to post only garage-sale find posts for the rest of the spring/summer. :)

Friday, May 17, 2013

So…garage sales have finally started in this area! This is the 2nd weekend with warm enough weather and I am so excited to get out there and see what treasures are waiting for me.
I have one slight problem. I don’t want to get lots more stuff to move (see this post). However, I have found that if I don’t go garage saling, I will have to pay waaaay more for kids clothes new or even thrifted when I actually need them. So I think I need to go garage saling.
Yep, I’m pretty sure I need to.
If it happens we have a few more boxes of stuff to move, so be it. (At least that’s what I’m telling myself now.) :)
I hit a few sales and found lots of goodies this morning. Around here, you have to get out right away on Thursday morning to get the best stuff. Once in a while if I see something I like but it is way overpriced I will go back on a Saturday morning to see if they’ll come down on it. Then I also have time to think about if I actually should have it. Usually the answer is no.
Garage saling with little kids is tricky. If I take them all out at each garage sale, that means more time spent unbuckling and buckling them into their carseats—and that time can really add up. Generally I bring a book on CD to play in the car for them and leave the car running while I dash in to the garage sale. They eventually get tired of this and that is when the snacks come out. Or I alternate bringing them into a garage sale (or just one of them each time) so they get a little variety. If a sale has lots of kids toys I bring them all out so they can have a little fun playing (gently! I hope anyway!) while I shop. So far this approach has worked pretty well. However, this is only the 2nd weekend of garage saling for me with three kids, so we’ll see. I would like this to continue to be fun for everyone and not end up with kids who hate garage saling.
On to the finds!
Frame is sturdy and 8X10 size--so as many others do, I just remove the art, spray paint the frame, and pop something new in there—all for 1.00!
Four Fire King orange mugs…have no idea if they have any monetary value but I heart their bright and happy colors so they are definitely worth the 25c each I paid for them!
Milk glass plate and vase—I think 50c each. Brass bowl 50c.
I’m excited about this plate. Why? My sister gave me a condiment tray that used to belong to my late grandmother in this exact same pattern and color…so this also now reminds me of my sweet grandma. Love!
Ignore the weird hand…I just realized my fingers pressed against the glass look kind of creepy.
I’m a little ambivalent about this plate. It is cute and the sentiment rings true but we’ll see where it ends up. I think it was 25c?
I also got this big wad of new fabric. It was originally from Ikea and is hearts made out of the number 2. I already have so much fabric but I thought this could make cute graphic pillows or curtains for our daughter’s room as she grows older.
And now…
Ok. I realize this is not the best picture of this. And it isn’t even all screwed together the way it should be. But…this is a HUGE chandelier. Are you thinking what I’m thinking??

So it isn’t as intricate or as big as the chandelier that Mandi found…but I am envisioning it a bright color and hanging somewhere in our new house (that we haven’t found yet). And it was only $10!! So excited.

Those are my fun finds from the past couple of weeks! I got a lot of kids clothes too but those just aren’t as fun to look at…at least not without kids in them. :)

Thursday, May 9, 2013

Look what’s in our front yard!
Yep, we’ve decided to put our home on the market and find our “forever” home. We love our little 20s two-story but we’re just outgrowing it both space-wise and idea-wise. For the past few years we have had a five-year plan in mind—this five year plan entailed us selling our home and finding a larger home on a few acres where we could live out our rural roots (both my husband and I grew up out in the boonies) and have space for the kids to build forts and run around and make lots of noise. Cause that’s what they do!!
Anyway, with the housing market boom and low interest rates we decided to put it on the market now rather than later and see how things go! Ugh, I tell you packing and getting a house ready to show with three little kids is tough!! Seems like as I’m getting one area cleaned I can hear the two-year old making a mess in another room that I just cleaned. It’s done though…well, I’m sure there is room for improvement, but it is done and ready for showing (actually, we’ve had three showings already!!).
I know, I still have a bathroom to show you (yes, it is done!!), but I’m only now having a little time to take pictures and blog again. I promise that before we sell the house I’ll make sure to take pictures so you can see the finished product.
I’ll probably end up writing a post about getting ready to move with 3 little kids underfoot…so if you have any questions you’d like me to answer let me know! Not that I’m an expert…yet!!